September 2007

September 28, 2007

Some of the people who helped me the most were those who told me that I couldn't do something.

I owe them sincere thanks.

They laid out a challenge. They forced me to confront having less. They made me mad.

And as I result, I went to work to prove them wrong.

For example, during my freshman year, a professor told me I'd be lucky to finish college.

Bunk!

I finished college three times earning a bachelors, a masters, and a doctorate in Chemical Engineering. And my grades were good enough that Carnegie Mellon University gave me a fellowship for graduate school, which meant that the school paid for my tuition and gave me a stipend.

Beyond that I've accomplished many other things that people told me were impossible.

So, seek out the nay sayers, doom casters, and failure predictors.

Spend just enough time with them to get mad.

Then prove them wrong. Because the world remembers only those who accomplish things. And we need all of the inspiration that we can find.

September 24, 2007

Success is easy to measure. It appears as profit, cash flow, and wealth.

Failure is more subtle.

In fact, some forms of failure are so indirect that we never know about them.

For example: Consider the business that you could have had.

Most people hold meetings that produce little, if anything. They gather, they talk, they adjourn. Maybe they decide that since they didn't accomplish anything, they need to meet again.

This represents a horrible failure.

Sure, it can be measured in terms of wasted payroll dollars.

And the real cost is much larger.

It's the success that they squandered by not having a result at the end of their meeting. It's the work that they didn't finish while they were sitting in a pointless meeting. It's the future they could have had.

September 18, 2007

Layoffs are so common that no one pays attention to them anymore. In fact, some executives include a layoff in their annual strategy for increasing profitability.

But this one was different.

You see, this time they fired the turtles at our local arboretum.

It certainly wasn't because of their performance.

Turtles excel at their work, floating in the pond and basking in the sun. They meet all of their deadlines, always arrive on time, and get along with everybody.

You could say that they are the ideal employees.

But someone decided that the turtles had to go. So, they were escorted out (given to a turtle adoption agency, actually).

This is bad news because it means that even top performers are at risk.

The turtles were surprised by this layoff because, being turtles, they don't spend much time planning alternative careers.

Fortunately, people are smarter than turtles (right?).

So, what would you do if someone eliminated your job? Do you have an alternate career waiting on the side? Do you have an up-to-date resume? Do you have a list of people whom you could call for help, such as for referrals and job leads?

By the way, this story has a happy ending. The turtles are back, rehired into their former positions.

Maybe the ducks complained.

Which proves another point: It's good to have friends who will make noise on your behalf.